Chapter 151: Fire and Ice (2)
Translator: bjgoofy
Father-in-law quickly pressed several of my acupoints to slow the poison's spread and began the detoxification immediately.
I had been poisoned, yes, but at least there was one stroke of luck: Father-in-law, one of the Tang Family's greatest masters, was right here beside me.
'Now that's reassuring.'
Having the Central Plains' foremost poison specialist as my personal physician? That was enough to put anyone at ease.
"Don't worry too much. I'll attempt to detoxify you first."
Just as Father-in-law's dependable words were beginning to settle my nerves, Hwa-eun and Seol noona, who had been staring at the water container, turned to him with a question.
"But Father, both Seol noona and I touched Moon Shadow too, so why is only Soryong poisoned? It's strange. If all three of us touched it, then all three of us should have been poisoned."
"She's right, Elder. Moon Shadow, Hwa-eun and I both touched it too.... Why only Soryong? Surely it's not some kind of poison that only affects men?"
In this situation where I'd been poisoned, the most suspicious culprit was the most recent addition: Moon Shadow.
No one had said it aloud, but everyone had silently reached the same conclusion.
Nothing like this had happened before the creature joined us, and since the way I was breathing blue flames from my mouth matched the creature's fire-eating habits, it was only natural that suspicion fell on it.
But as Hwa-eun and Seol noona pointed out, I wasn't the only one who had touched Moon Shadow, so the two of them wore expressions of genuine confusion.
Seol noona had even gone so far as to ask whether it might be a poison that only affected men.
However, thinking it over carefully, the only thing the three of us had in common was the fact that we'd touched it. The timing was not the same at all.
The only one who had touched it recently was me.
Seol noona and Hwa-eun had last handled Moon Shadow right after arriving on the boat, and that was it.
Those two occasions, when they first saw the creature at the Moon Reflection Pool and once more upon boarding the boat, were the only times.
Since amphibians have sensitive skin, I had told them it was best not to handle the creature too often. After that, as far as I knew, neither of them had touched it again. Only I had.
I was the only one who had recently handled it to check whether its hind legs were coming in.
And so I was able to figure out why I alone had been poisoned.
'I can't believe I made such a rookie mistake.... Did I get too excited because it's been a while since I've dealt with an amphibian?'
Once I identified the cause, the very first thing that came to mind was pure disappointment in myself.
And rightfully so, because if I had acknowledged that the creature was an amphibian tadpole, I should have been far more careful.
Certain species of poisonous frogs and toads don't produce their own toxins. Instead, they consume prey like spiders, scorpions, centipedes, and ants, storing those creatures' venom and repurposing it as their own.
Since they can't generate poison themselves, they essentially recycle the toxins of other venomous creatures.
That was why, when someone bred them in a private enclosure using non-toxic feed, the animals were perfectly harmless and easy to raise. But the moment you started feeding them prey caught from the wild, they would begin producing poison immediately, which meant you had to be extremely careful about their diet and handling.
'But who could have predicted it would eat fire and produce poison from that?'
Well, it wasn't live prey but fire, so I hadn't anticipated poison being generated from that. Still, for someone who claimed to handle venomous creatures, one couldn't be too careful, and yet here I was making a mistake like this....
Especially after having already witnessed so many exceptional cases among Spiritual Creatures.
'The path of Maewoon Fabre, the murim world's venomous creature specialist, is no easy road indeed.'
Grateful at least that I was the only one poisoned, and since the flames spewing from my nose and mouth seemed to have subsided for now, I explained my findings to Hwa-eun and Seol noona.
Father-in-law was concentrating so intently that he couldn't even respond to their questions.
"Cough. Cough....
Certain venomous toads and frogs can't produce their own toxins. They collect poisons from other creatures and use them as their own. Based on that principle, it's clear that Moon Shadow is generating poison by consuming fire.
So before it ate fire, it would have had no toxin at all, and that's likely why only I, the most recent person to touch it, was poisoned.
The poison made from the first fire I fed it probably started circulating right around the time its hind legs began to emerge."
The reason we had all been fine when handling the creature at the Moon Reflection Pool or right after transferring it to the boat was most likely because it hadn't consumed any fire before that.
I was suggesting that the poison generated from the first fire I'd fed it had begun to seep out just as its hind legs started growing, which was why I'd been the one poisoned.
At that, Seol noona and Hwa-eun's eyes went wide with astonishment.
A venomous creature that ate fire and produced poison from it? Of course they were stunned.
"Soryong, are you alright? But it produces poison by eating fire?"
"It makes poison from fire?"
And then, from Father-in-law, who had been treating me, came a strained groan.
"Ngh. How is this...."
Something wasn't going well, it seemed. The sudden sound of Father-in-law's pained grunting sent a surge of anxiety through me.
It certainly felt like the treatment wasn't working.
'What is it? What's not going right?'
Just as the rising dread made my heart pound...
Something hot suddenly trickled from my nose.
-Trickle. Clatter. Drip. Drip....
Blood came streaming down from my nose without warning.
Perhaps because the flames I'd been spewing earlier had burned or scraped the inside of my nostrils, blood was suddenly trickling freely from my nose.
But the nosebleed was a trivial matter. The moment my blood hit the floor...
Flames erupted from the spot.
-Whoosh!
The instant the trickling blood struck the floor, fire roared upward.
"Wh, what in the...!"
Father-in-law, who had been groaning in concentration, startled and swept his sleeve to smother the flames, but a patch of black scorch marks had already appeared on the floor of my boat.
Ugly burn marks now marred the floor of my new boat, but I didn't even have the presence of mind to register that grief.
Because something even more shocking than breathing fire had just happened: my blood had burst into flames.
'What kind of poison turns a person's blood into gasoline!?'
My eyes flew wide at the revelation that poison could make human blood combustible, and Hwa-eun turned to Father-in-law with an urgent voice.
"Father, what about the detoxification? How is the detoxification going?"
My blood catching fire had clearly set her nerves on edge.
In response to Hwa-eun's question, Father-in-law finally shook his head and spoke.
"Your grandfather might be able to manage it, but I cannot. I've never dealt with a poison like this before.... I can't isolate it from the body. I tried to separate it, but it was impossible.
I suspected it might be a type of Blood-Burning Poison, but it's entirely different."
Blood-Burning Poison was one of the Tang Family's fearsome toxins. It was called Blood-Burning Poison because those afflicted felt the agony of their blood boiling within their bodies.
But as Father-in-law said, Moon Shadow's poison was completely different.
It wasn't a sensation of burning; the blood was actually igniting.
A declaration of defeat from the poison specialist.
At Father-in-law's answer, the color drained from both Hwa-eun and Seol noona's faces.
"Th, that can't...."
"You can't cure it!?"
Expelling poison with Internal Energy was a delicate procedure. Having studied Poison Technique myself, I knew the basics well enough to understand what Father-in-law was saying.
The process of driving out poison with Internal Energy involved channeling one's energy into the patient's body to distinguish the toxin, herding it to one area, then making an incision there and drawing it out along with the blood.
But because this was an entirely unfamiliar type of poison, he was saying he couldn't even tell it apart from the rest.
"Th, then, what do we do?"
"S, surely our Soryong isn't going to die?"
Convinced I was dying, Seol noona's eyes were already glistening with unshed tears.
At those words, Father-in-law mercifully shook his head.
'Oh, thank goodness. So it's not a lethal poison, at least?'
"Fortunately, the poison itself doesn't stop the breathing or halt the blood, so it won't be fatal, but...."
It wasn't a deadly class of toxin like a Neurotoxin or Hemotoxin, so at least I wouldn't die.
But just as that thought brought a flicker of relief, Father-in-law suddenly trailed off.
'No, why are you trailing off like that and making people anxious!'
Before my relief could even take hold, fury flared at the sight of Father-in-law leaving his sentence unfinished.
Blood trickled from my nose again, and flames bloomed.
-Whoooosh.
Father-in-law swiftly smothered the fire once more, then tried to calm me as he explained.
"S, steady now, Son-in-law. From what I can tell, this poison won't kill on its own, but its nature is extremely volatile. If you use Internal Energy, or move your body vigorously, or let your emotions run high, then most likely, like just now, things will catch fire, or.... erupt, or...."
"Erupt, or?"
"Erupt, or?"
As Father-in-law kept repeating "erupt, or", everyone pressed him to finish, and he swallowed once before leaving us with a single word.
"Ex... explosion...."
"Explosion?"
"Explosion?"
At the word "explosion", Seol noona and Hwa-eun tilted their heads in confusion.
It was such an outlandish answer. But in that moment, a single thought streaked through my mind.
'No way. S, surely not? He doesn't mean that if I get emotional, or circulate Internal Energy, or move around too much, I'll explode, does he? I mean, breathing fire and having my nosebleed catch fire is one thing, but surely not an actual explosion....'
No matter how much my blood was combusting, surely it couldn't escalate all the way to an explosion?
Telling myself it must have been said for some other reason, I looked at Father-in-law, and meeting my questioning gaze, he squeezed both eyes shut.
'Dammit!'
***
-Creak. Creak.
The sound of wood groaning against wood filled the cabin.
Moon Shadow's poison required absolute rest, so I lay in a hammock that Yohwa had secured to the cabin walls, keeping as still as I possibly could.
Our current position was past Yueyang, where we had met the princess, heading further upstream.
Sichuan wasn't far now, and once we arrived, we could bring Grandfather to treat me, so I had decided to hold on until then.
Not that it would come to this, but if things took a dangerous turn midway, I had a last resort available.
And what might that be?
None other than the Five Poisons Divine Technique.
"Soryong, it's dangerous, so just accept it. I already told you I don't matter anymore."
"Yeah, Soryong. Just do what Hwa-eun says."
As Hwa-eun and Seol noona kept urging from beside me, there was in fact an easy solution: simply absorb Moon Shadow's poison as one of my Five Poisons Divine Technique's core poisons.
If Moon Shadow happened to be a toad and a low-grade one at that, I'd end up with a ruined build, and if the creature turned out to be a frog, I'd become a mishmash with no clear strengths. The risk was enormous. But it was true that if I incorporated Moon Shadow's poison into the Five Poisons Divine Technique, the poisoning itself would be resolved in one stroke.
The technique granted powerful resistance to any poison it had absorbed, so it was the easiest possible escape from this predicament.
'But the soul of Maewoon Fabre will not allow it.'
The Ten Great Venomous Creatures and the Ten Poisons were the very driving force behind Maewoon Fabre's life in this murim world.
How could a threat of this level possibly break his resolve?
'Abandoning the Five Poisons and the Ten Poisons? That is simply out of the question.'
A man ought to be agonizing over the Five Poisons and the Ten Poisons, not fretting about whether his build would be ruined or mediocre.
And so, despite their urging, I answered with a smile.
"A man who has set his purpose does not yield to so small a threat. Once we reach Sichuan, Grandfather will be able to treat me, so please don't worry too much. Either of you. What could possibly go wrong in the meantime?"
The journey was nearly over.
I reassured them both that nothing would happen, but they looked at me with exasperation plain on their faces.
"Soryong, if your stubbornness gets you hurt, your Seol noona is going to give you a real scolding!"
"Soryong, you'll be getting one from me too!"
They were probably only saying that because their hearts were heavy with worry.
I was lying in the hammock, giving them both a wry grin, when it happened.
-Creeeak.
The boat lurched suddenly.
The violent rocking made Seol noona flare up in anger.
"I told them to steer carefully! What's going on!"
Already on edge because of me, Seol noona erupted at the swaying and threw open the cabin door.
A boatman came rushing up, shouting in alarm.
"Everyone, hold on tight! Th, there must've been a big downpour upstream, a surge of floodwater and branches is coming this way!"
"What!?"
"What!?"
The Yangtze River was obscenely long, and the Central Plains were obscenely vast, so there were times when a sudden deluge upstream caused flooding downriver even while the lower reaches suffered drought.
But why did it have to be now of all times?
At the unbelievable news, I screamed inside my head.
'Give me a break! Please!'
The heavens were clearly jealous of my Five Poisons and Ten Poisons.
*****
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